The Calgary Flames sniper, who potted the team's powerplay goal last night -- after losing his helmet -- not only wowed the 19,289 in attendance but once again impressed his boss and teammates.

"You expect Jarome to be a machine and plug 'em in," suggested Sutter after watching Iginla log almost 20 minutes of ice time and score after the captain had his hat knocked off by an overzealous defender.

"Look how much he's played. He had two days (off) and look how much fresher he is. He had jump obviously in the first period."

Last night's return to the high-paced skating game helped the Flames earn a 3-2 win and a 2-1 series lead over Detroit in the conference semifinal.

"I think it was a really important game for us to be skating the way we can skate and try and play the style we've been playing," said Iginla, who recorded three shots on goal and also drew a penalty on a breakaway.

"Everybody's fresher on our club, for sure. We're kind of like a skate first club, be physical after ... it feels good after a couple of days off to get back at it."

Offered teammate Shean Donovan, who also scored last night: "Iggy played awesome again. He's played great all series. Sometimes, when he doesn't score goals, people get on him but he does so much more during the game that people don't realize.

"He does it all and is fun to watch. He's probably the best player in the world."